NAACP Supports Sustainable African Development by Building Human Resource Capacity and Expanding Quality Education

WHEREAS, many Sub-Saharan African countries struggle with internal conflicts, natural resource disasters, poverty, capital flight, environmental degradation and low human capital; and

WHEREAS, the global financial crisis has forced Sub-Saharan Africa to take stock of their position in the global economy and prepare appropriate strategies to consolidate existing gains, ensure a better quality of life for their citizenry and avoid being left out of the international community's efforts to transform the global economy; and

WHEREAS, in this complex global context, development requires well educated leaders and strong institutions to solve problems and create opportunities; and

WHEREAS, sustainable development cannot occur without sound human capital with education and health being key components; and

WHEREAS, the development of indigenous capacity, both individual and institutional, is of prime importance to Sub-Saharan Africa; and

WHEREAS, building human capacity through education and training is a high priority for increasing human capacity and developing talented young emerging leaders in the political, policy, business, and civil society sectors; and

WHEREAS, building the capacity of educational institutions should include all aspects of instruction from literacy and numeracy training to strengthening African institutions of higher education with the full participation and special emphasis on women and girls; and

WHEREAS, strategic emphasis should be placed on human capital retention, or preventing the "brain drain" and its concomitant negative impact on the development of African economies, institutions and societies; and

WHEREAS, the leaders of Sub-Saharan Africa must assume the lead in creating the opportunities and mechanisms to build human resource capacity through education.

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the NAACP shall survey the outreach and advocacy initiatives underway to support African human resource capacity building through education; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NAACP shall, in consultation and coordination with African nations and other supportive organizations encourage the U.S. Government and Congress to support African education initiatives with a view toward building human capacity, supporting higher education institutional development to include education exchange and the use of American institutions of higher education to partner with universities in Sub-Saharan Africa; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NAACP shall, working in consultation and coordination with African nations as well as other supportive organizations, utilize its United Nations non-governmental organization (NGO) observer status to advance human capacity and institutional support building policies through UNESCO and other related United Nations agencies; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the NAACP shall, in consultation and coordination with African nations and other supportive organizations advocate for policies that advance Sub-Saharan Africa's sustainable development through building human resources by capacity building and an education agenda.